Unbreakable: Unrequited Part Two (Fallen Aces MC Book 2) (21 page)

“I need space to work this out for myself. I’ve dragged enough people into my mess and I’ve had enough of it. I need to put distance between the trouble that seems to constantly surround me, and King.”

“And then what?” I catch the slight lift of his eyebrow in the dark.

“What do you mean?” Is he asking me how long I think I’ll be gone? Where I see the relationship between King and I heading?

“I mean, it’s all good and well that you think removing yourself from the equation solves the problem, but don’t you think it’s a better idea that Lloyd removes a man as violent and abusive as your husband from the equation instead?”

He has a valid point. “I guess so.” I lean a hip into the counter and cross my arms. “I also want him safe, though. Going after Carlos is a recipe for trouble, big trouble. What’s the point in us going through everything we have if he’s hurt, or worse, killed?”

“What’s the point of going through it all if you just walk away and let the asshole win anyway?”

“It’s not King’s fight.”

“It’s not your burden. He’s a grown man, Elena. He can decide these things for himself.” He shakes his head as though frustrated. “You can’t tell me you really think that by bailing on him, it’ll convince Lloyd to drop this?”

I draw circles on the countertop with my finger. “Everything that’s bad in his life is because of me. If I’m not here, then perhaps he’ll eventually find another way to be happy.”

“You can’t rip his heart out and expect him to still know how to love.”

“Is it love, though, when all I do is bring him pain? Is that something a person does to the one they love?”

King’s dad drums his fingers on the table briefly, and leans back in his seat. “How do you think he’s going to feel when that child of yours is born? Will that not be the greatest gift? Will that one miracle not make all of this worth it?”

“Of course, but that’s a father’s love. It’s unconditional. It can’t be broken like his and mine can.”

“I don’t think it’s broken, Elena. He clearly thinks the world of you.”

“Not right now, it isn’t,” I whisper, “but is love alone enough to endure all this? Or will he simply grow to resent me?” I tip my head back and blink away the tears as I stare at the ceiling. “Call me selfish, or even whimsical, but I’d rather we remembered our love as this good thing it is now than have it become something bitter we both resent.”

“Even so, I don’t think it’s a decision you should make alone when it affects him on such a level.” King’s father holds up a finger as he fishes his vibrating phone out of a pocket.

He answers, and within a few words I know exactly who he’s talking to.
King.
I wait patiently and move across the room to sit on the opposite side of the table. Yet his father wraps up the call without so much as an indication he even thought to ask if King wanted to talk to me.

“What did he say?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Jesus
. Anonymity extends past the barriers of the club. “Great. Everyone seems to fucking know how he is but me.” I blanche when I realize I’ve just sworn at his father. “Sorry.”

“Heard worse,” he responds dryly. “It wasn’t King, anyway; it was his friend Callum. I don’t think you’ve met him.”

I shake my head.

“Given what he said, I think if you cared at all for my son you wouldn’t add your disappearance to the things he has to worry about.”

“What’s happening?”

King’s dad sighs and cups the coffee mug in his hands. “They’ve got a shuffle going on in the place since a couple of officers were killed.”

My eyes widen. “I never knew.”

“You aren’t supposed to,” he warns with a stern finger. It’s a subtle instruction to keep my mouth shut. “Anyway, he’s trying to get a position for himself, but he thinks that damn president of his is looking for ways to oust him before it could happen.”

It sounds like chaos, sure, but the one thing it doesn’t sound like is anything to do with Carlos. He truly did leave me just to deal with his club’s petty business. The rejection stings anew. No, I didn’t want him to get involved with Carlos, and yes, I was about to walk out the door to try and avoid that, but hearing he never had any intention of doing a thing for me? That burns.

“I need to go.”

King’s father watches me silently. “It’s wrong, denying him the birth of his first child.”

“How did you know I’d be gone that long?”

“The tone of your voice changed; your mannerisms closed off. You got annoyed when I told you what he was doing, and you shut off.”

Point taken.
“He’ll forever put the needs of his men before me, and I can’t live with that.” I look down to my belly and shake my head. “More so, if it hurts me this bad every time he leaves me behind to run back to them, how do you think our child will feel, knowing daddy picks a bunch of bikers over his own blood?”

“You don’t know he’d do that,” King’s father snaps.

“Oh, but I do.” I smile sadly. “He’ll do it every time they call.”

“And what about your safety?” he asks. “Do you think that by leaving, this Carlos man you were involved with will just drop whatever vendetta he has against you two? He may not be able to locate
you
, but he’ll still hold a grudge against the man who stole his wife.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” I shout. “Don’t you think I’ve been lying awake all morning trying to decide what the best thing to do is?” The blood in my veins is on fire. “I’m not skipping off into the sunset, sir. I’m leaving with a heavy heart.”

“What the hell is going on?” The room is washed in bright fluorescent light as Addie switches the overheads on.

“Elena’s leaving. You may want to pack her something to eat,” King’s dad snaps. He stands from the table and downs the last of his drink. “I’ve got work to do.” He strides from the room, shooting me a final glower as he dumps the cup in the sink.

“Elena?” Addie asks as the back door slams in its enclosure behind him.

“I’m sorry.” I swipe the fucking tears from my face—what good will they do? “I can’t stay and play second fiddle to a club that’ll forever have our family in danger. I just can’t.”

“Where will you go?” she asks quietly, pulling the makings of a sandwich from the pantry.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.” I slouch onto an empty stool at the large island.

“There are women’s shelters around if you ask the right people, but my thinking is that you won’t want to involve the law.”

I say nothing and watch her deft hands make light work of packing me a lunch and a few healthy snacks. She tucks the cling film over the homemade muffin and slips it all into a large clip-seal container.

“I don’t know how long you’ll be off the radar, so I hope this is enough.”

I can’t bring myself to take the food offered in her outstretched hands although I know I should. Leaving King is hard enough—accepting help from his mother in doing it seems like an even greater betrayal.

“Take it,” she whispers. “You’ll need the fuel with that wee one growing inside of you.”

I wrap my fingers around the cool, hard edges of the container and pull it toward me, clutching the offering to my chest. “Thank you.”

“Do you need money?”

Again, I choose silence over admitting I need her to basically lay the red carpet out for me to leave.

“How much do you think will be enough?” She sweeps across the room to where her purse sits on the counter and digs out a few bills. “This is all I have, but if you need more we can arrange a trip to the bank if you’re happy to wait until they open.” Addie lays three hundred dollars on the counter beside my hands and steps back.

“Why are you doing this?” I whisper.

“Because you have the right to choose, and if you think your life is better spent somewhere else where nobody knows who you are, rather than with my son, who am I to stop you?”

I lay my arms over the counter and my forehead hits the cash as I give in and let the anxiety wreak havoc with my body. Air is thick, hard to push into my lungs. The room seems to double in temperature. A million thoughts fire through my mind in a dozen different voices: angry Elena, sad Elena, nervous Elena, and worst of all, heartbroken Elena.

“Hey.” A warm hand rests between my shoulders briefly before pulling away again. “It’s not too late to change your mind. If we thought this was too big of a problem for farmers like us to handle, we would have told Lloyd so. But we didn’t. You’re welcome to stay and figure out how to solve this.” She pauses and draws a deep breath above my cradled head. “Although if your answer is asking him to walk away from his life with the club, I think you’d better admit defeat.”

King

“I’m exorcising my right to instruct you to stand down until such time as the officers can meet to decide the future of your position.” Beefy laces his hands over his belly, as close as the big guy can get to crossing his arm over his chest. “Meeting’s in two days, Apex. You shouldn’t have any issue followin’ orders.”

“And who the fuck is goin’ to run the show, Beef?” He strides back and forth behind his desk, stopping every so often to shove at something on the top. “We’ve got no God-damned VP.”

“We haven’t got a fuckin’ president, either,” Beefy roars back. “You’ve been actin’ selfishly for the past few months now, brother. What else did you think we’d do when it got this far?”

“What have you got against me, huh?” He smirks at the two of us, Mighty having left to get himself a drink shortly after Fingers took Abbey. “What you bringin’ to the table? Any hard evidence, or is it all li’l bitch’s hearsay?” He glares across the room at me, sending my pulse thrumming in my neck.

“I don’t have to do a thing,” I spit at the asshole. “You’re diggin’ a mighty fine hole on your own,
prospect
.”

His eyes narrow as he looks me over, clearly trying to work out how I know the connection. “Who you been talkin’ to?”

“An old friend,” Beefy fills in. “Step out, Apex. I don’t want to see you in here until it’s been cleared by the board.”

“You aren’t takin’ jack fuckin’ squat away from me.” Apex’s eyes dart around the room, as though he searches for a clue to help him out. “This is mutiny. You realize that? You could be done for this too, Beefy. How does treason sound? Turnin’ against your brothers?”

“Sounds to me like you’re readin’ your own rap sheet,” I muse, running a finger over the dusty cabinet and tsk-ing. “You should take better care of your things. Never know what we might find once we dust the filth off .”

Apex growls at the double innuendo in my words. The man needs a walk-in robe to house all the skeletons he has in his closet. “It’s a dangerous thing to do, backin’ a man into a corner like this,” he threatens, his finger pointing at me then Beefy. “Hope you fuckers are ready to take whatever comes your way when I’m done explainin’ this to the officers.”

Beefy opens his mouth to speak when an almighty crash out in the common room halts our heated discussion square in its tracks. The three of us push through the door to see what the source of the commotion is as yelling echoes about the open space.

“Pres!” One of the younger prospects jogs across the open floor, his hand clutched to his ear, which bleeds in rivers down his arm and over his T-shirt. “We’ve got unwelcome company.”

Apex shoulders between Beefy and myself, but stops dead as Beefy’s hand slaps down on his collar.

“Not your job anymore,” our sergeant at arms warns.

“Whose then?” Apex growls, his eyes dicing holes in the hand that rests on his shirt.

“Mine.” Beefy steps forward and nods out front as he approaches the prospect. “Who we got?”

“He wants him.” The prospect points a red-streaked finger towards Apex. “We tried keepin’ them out, but the fuckers shot Abel. I thought I was a goner for sure, too.”

“Who’s after me,” Apex asks. “What’s his name, son?”

“Carlos.”

Fuck.
The front door slams against the entrance, two of his minions visible with a steel battering ram. Fucker came prepared.

“Honey, I’m home!” Carlos roars down the hallway.

I glance across at our suspended president and blanch at the fear in his eyes. He’s certain this won’t end well too.

“Time to face fate,” I mutter, speaking as much about his situation as mine.

I swallow hard as the wolf makes his advance. He steps lightly as he edges down the hallway, foot soldiers in front and behind. Running a mental inventory, I focus in on the familiar feel of my gun at the small of my back and the knife sheathed in my boot. Judging by the semi-automatic weapons in Carlos’s guard’s hands, I’m grossly under-prepared. But fate is what I make of it. The ability of the determined against that of the opportune is nothing to be underestimated.

I slink backward toward the garage and out of plain sight as Carlos crosses the threshold into the common room.

“There you are, you fucking rat.” Carlos’s sharp eyes zero in on Apex, who settles his hand over the butt of his gun. “Do you have any idea how much of an inconvenience it is to have to fucking come down here to your filthy back yard to get fucking answers for myself?” His growled words end on a roar. His rage builds with every step he takes towards our ex-president.

Apex ages ten years in the minute it takes Carlos to reach him. “Care to tell me what the problem is?” The moron plays it dumb. He clearly hasn’t studied Carlos that well in all the interactions they’ve had if he thinks insulting the man’s intelligence will gain him any brownie points.

“Are you fucking serious?” Carlos shouts with a laugh. “You think you can pretend like you have noooo fucking idea
what
the hell you’ve been up to?” Carlos crowds Apex, his tall and lean frame towering over the shorter stocky man’s. “Do you think I’m that stupid?”

“How about we sit down and discuss what’s going on here civilly?” Beefy asks, his palms held out before him.

“How about you shut the fuck up and stay out of this?” Carlos sneers.

Beefy holds his ground, yet drops his hands to his sides. “If you took the time to discuss the issue, you might find that we’re not all on the same side here.” He waves a fat hand between Apex and himself. “We could possibly come to a mutual decision.”